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Thursday, September 04, 2008

Sporadic Geek Update (9/4/08)

Here's some geek news for today.

Stacey Chancellor, over at the excellent Flames Rising website, gives her review of the most recent Terry Brooks Shannara Novel -- The Gypsy Morph (The Genesis of Shannara, Book 3). The book is the third in a trilogy that connects Brooks' modern day Knights of the Word series with his original Shannara trilogy. Prior to this trilogy, I had been trying for years to convince some of my friends that the Shannara books were "post-apocalyptic" fiction that took place in our world. Most of my friends agreed and understood. For others though, it didn't matter how many times I pointed out that the characters fight a robotic dinosaur on the streets of what appears to be a crumbled Seattle, they thought I was crazy. It's been nice reading Brooks' latest trilogy and, based on Chancellor's review, I cannot wait to read The Gypsy Morph (The Genesis of Shannara, Book 3). Even if it seems that Chancellor is admittedly affected by her "Primal Screen" when reading Brooks fiction.

Kathryn Bigelow, the director of one of my favorite vampire movies Near Dark, has directed THE HURT LOCKER. The film is an actioner that portrays the lives of an elite Explosive Ordinance Disposal team stationed in Iraq. The film screened at the Venice film festival and seeks to capture the, largely untapped, audience of Americans willing to watch movies set in Iraq. I am a fan of Bigelow's -- I even love Point Break (Pure Adrenaline Edition), but K-19 not so much -- as well as a fan of the recent HBO series GENERATION KILL. Like KILL, the Bigelow movie is based on the experiences of an embedded journalist. All of which means that I will likely watch this film when/if it is released in theaters, regardless of Derek Elley of Variety's lukewarm review. The film may not be political enough for Elley, but it's apparent focus on "war as a drug" and the effect that violence has on its participants has me pretty interested.

According to Variety, Columbia has tagged "The Office" co-executive producers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky to write a script for a new GHOSTBUSTERS movie featuring the original characters.

"The Office" is one of my favorite shows, and I'm sure that the co-executive producers will do a bang up job on the screenplay. But there is a little corner of my mind that wants Greg Costikyan to get a shot at a draft. Costikyan is the famous, at least in Grognard gaming circles, creator of the games THE CREATURE THAT ATE SHEBOYGAN, BUG EYED MONSTERS, and TOON. Or maybe Bill Slavicek who wrote some of the funniest adventures for the GHOSTBUSTERS roleplaying game in the '90s.